Ces Discussion Thread.

Chris is going to shoot alot of pics too. He promised to load them all on a disc and send them to me. I think we'll have quite a few pics when he gets back.

I'm surprised Chris hasn't called me yet. From Sema he called me a few times. I guess he is a bit more busy at CES then he was at SEMA.

I hope you will be there next year too Fugyaself. I am going to be there for sure. [/b][/quote]
I'm back! B)

"Busier than I thought" is an understatement...
SEMA, I was pretty satisfied after walking around for a day... we did about 1.5 days at SEMA... (I was there with my wife, also)
CES, I spent 4 days at, and not only barely truly saw all the mobile audio section (just the north hall of the convention center), but didn't spend as much time at the high-end audio section (the entire Alexis Park hotel complex) as I would have liked.

But don't get me wrong... it was a great time, and I can't wait until next year.
Big thanks to Mikeylkzt (Angelo) and Delvryboy (Chris H) for splitting the room with me... big thanks to ScottS for hanging out with us, he's a great guy...(I've got a great pic of him pimpin' at the bar cigar in one hand, drink in the other )
Thanks to Dan Wiggins for his generous time again, and for taking his lunch break with us at Alexis Park (and thanks to David Hyre and Chris B for their time too... the Adire booth was busy, busy!)...
Thanks to Manville Smith for a 20 minute demo of their Mini Cooper, which was not only likely the nicest sounding car that I heard at the show, but possibly in my life.

It was great to meet Marshall (Black00) and Kyle of AVVA (and here! but they own and run "there" ), and David of RE in person finally also.

I had planned to meet up with Stephen Ponte and Ben Milne ahead of time, but unfortunately Ben had hauled out of town early, and Stephen was checking out one of the arguably more exciting conventions in town when I was free.. but that's OK, there are a few things each year that bring people together. B)

(let's see... anyone else? h34r: )

Phew - is an understatement! :lol:
Great time... don't miss it next year, if you missed it this year.

 

If I remember right, I believe Manville told me the MSRP is about twice what the XR's are now.
They truly sounded amazing. The JL Mini was the nicest sounding car at the show, IMO.
It had an Alpine DVD HU that could either decode 5.1, or create a phantom center channel (I imagine by extracting the material only common to both channels, as opposed to a summation of the two channels) with stereo recordings. I heard both, and it sounded virtually as incredible with the 2-channel recordings.

They had an ideal front stage setup though... virtually no dashboard (went straight down from the windshield, essentially), upholstered in acoustically absorbant suede, with three tweeters mounted right at the base of the windshield (far left, center, far right). Immediately below the center tweeter was the center mid unit (cosmetically emulating the round vents on the left and right sides of the dash, complimented by the install.. nice touch), and in the kick panels were the far left and far right mid units.
In pods in the rear of the car were two XR coaxials playing the rear fill role - and true to their purpose, they were consciously inaudible, lending only to ambiance.
But this quote wasn't about the XR's...

I'm going to have to consider the ZR's my new SQ reference points.
But they definitely carry a heftier price tag than the XR's... I think the XR's are still the winner, in terms of value... but then, it's obvious you don't get a "doubling" in sound quality, any time you double your price... it's always big money, for small improvements. That's how high-end is. B)

 

LOL...

I'm still concerned about a "boinging" sound...
Although since I've given your idea - and now the Parthenon's [patent pending ] suspension some thought also, I can picture ways to minimize any resonances from this strategy... anything from applying damping material (the heat would pose a problem for adhesion though), to a heavy rubber-dip (same functionality, to an elastic wrapper of a resonance that counters or opposes the resonance of the coil. Just "talking out loud" sort of ideas.

The RE 6 also has less "coil", which would seem to reduce the likelyhood... and I like their idea of stiffening this "coil" in many ways also... increasing centering force, and reducing the potential for these harmonics.

But thats only if there were any harmonics or unwanted resonances...
...I haven't heard it in use, so I can't say there are any.
The RE motor wasn't even charged (and their version of the suspension was simply for show, it wasn't a working unit).
Dan's sub was up and working, but he was just demonstrating it with a 9v battery.
The sub itself, the guide tube was machined slightly too small - he said when they ran it on real music it chattered because of that. He didn't mention anything about any "boinging" sounds or resonances from the spider/lead units, so we can't assume either way.

I was just saying, that was my concern with the idea originally, Stephen, and now that I'm thinking about it again... I'm wondering again!
Dan? :?:

 

...Which interestingly enough, I'm proud to say, was exactly my suggestion on the diyaudio.com forum for how to tackle the front suspension, on their DIY monster sub (there's a thread over there, I don't have the link handy)...

My inspiration for the idea was the PG Cyclone, as it has no outer suspension... it's simply a panel sweeping against the curved plexi cylinder walls.

Very much like the RE sub, that was exactly my suggestion. B)

Now, the suspension on the other hand... very interesting, and not what I would have thought of.

Even still, to eliminate any friction of rubbing on the guide post, since it's such a monster already, I might try to implement it by using one of those not only at the top of the former, where it is now... but also at the back of the former, using two spiders essentially to eliminate rocking, eliminating the guide-post (They did use low-friction Delrin - same plastic as I am using on the cam/spring suspension for my servo SPL subwoofer project (that I might finish some year )- but ideally "no friction" is probably best).

 

I don't know if it was strategic or not.

Downside is, I personally heard Dan at least twice reference the Brahma, having to give the verbal disclaimer of "That's actually an older one... we've got a newer version out now, using a different basket".

Upside would be, it shows Adire works to improve their products over time.

Or it could simply be, they simply had it on hand to bring with them, it served the purpose of their demos.

 

Chris, I'll shout at you later tonight. My wife had to go to Cali suddenly this weekend, so I have time to chat. I'm goin to Ma's house tonight for dinner, so I expect maybe 9-9:30 or so if that is cool.

 

By the way, did the NDA get there yet?

 

Sounds cool...
...and yes it did... so "cool" for 2 reasons. B)

 

Whoa so the RE 'RE' comps use xbl^2 as well? Anybody know what kind of price or when they'll be selling them?

 

RE should be under 200

XXX should be in between 300-400 somewhere

 

Hi all,

No problem with a "boing" sound. Metal springs are amazingly silent in operation - as silent as cloth spiders. Silent enough that you'll see it migrate into other drivers over time (just like XBL^2 is).

The 4 spoke Brahma was used as a demo only, to show what the raw Brahma top plate and core started as (we have a demo set we take around - two pieces of steel and a built driver, so you can see what the technology is inside the driver).

CES isn't about showing the latest and greatest for the consumers - it's about showing potential products, talking margins, and product line growth over the next year with dealers, suppliers, and other industry insiders. As such, you often see lots of older and newer things present, and many times not even powered up.

Dan Wiggins
Adire Audio

 

I was just thinking. the parthenon has the first true spider on a driver... eight springs .

 

Deyton... Nice sig. Reverand Maynard rules :yes:

 

...thus the name Arachnid...

Dan Wiggins
Adire Audio

 

Slick :yes:

 

Just wondering if we saw anything new from jbl? They are one of those companies that have the money to put out some crazy new products. Just like they put out DDD and the 6000 watt monster, wondering if they will be offering any longer throw sql woofers ?